In the 18 months since the COVID-19 virus emerged, nations of the world have raced to vaccinate their citizens — starting with the most vulnerable.

The expert advice was simple — start with the frail aged in nursing homes and their carers.

Given the vulnerability of older Australians, it is extraordinary that the Morrison Government has still not fully vaccinated aged-care residents or the people who provide them with care.

Only about a third of aged-care workers have had a single dose.

This is a monumental failure.

In 2021, Scott Morrison had two jobs — roll out the COVID-19 vaccine and fix the nation’s broken quarantine system.

The Prime Minister has bungled both.

Back in February, Mr Morrison promised that aged-care residents and staff, along with disability group home residents and their carers, would be vaccinated by Easter.

Health Department Secretary Brendan Murphy even explicitly cited the need for a focus on older people.

“We know we’ve seen the tragic consequences of outbreaks in residential care,’’ Professor Murphy said. “So aged-care facilities and the workers who can spread the virus generally will be a high priority.’’

Despite understanding the stakes involved, Mr Morrison failed.

He also failed to deliver his promise to vaccinate four million Australians by the end of March, falling short by 3.4 million people.

The aged-care debacle reflects Mr Morrison’s broader failures on vaccination and quarantine.

Eighteen months into the global pandemic less than 9 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated, far less than in the US and the UK, where nearly half of the people have received both jabs.

Australian cities continue to be forced into lockdowns, after 26 instances of the COVID virus escaping the flawed hotel quarantine system.

Mr Morrison’s failures are endangering lives, putting people out of work, shutting down businesses and preventing a return to normal.

His complacency and incompetence are squandering all of the good work of Australians and their State governments which helped us through the COVID crisis last year.

As long ago as November, Mr Morrison insisted Australians were “at the front of the queue” for receiving vaccines, an impression he continued to push as he held a photo-opportunity for his own vaccination on February 21.

This was never true.

That is because Mr Morrison didn’t secure vaccine deals quickly enough and in sufficient quantities.

From as early as March 2020, smart governments around the world were signing deals with drug companies which were developing vaccines.

Nations including the US and Canada were also hedging their bets by signing contracts with up to six drug companies so that if one vaccine failed, they would have other options.

Mr Morrison dithered.

We know that in June last year, drug company Pfizer contacted the Australian Government to assess its interest in buying its vaccine.

In spite of the fact there was a meeting in July, a Pfizer deal was not done until November 4after the company had already committed to provide more than one billion doses to 34 other nations.

From Australia’s position, we could not even see the front of the Pfizer queue.

No wonder we are still struggling to source enough Pfizer to meet our needs.

And our other vaccine, AstraZeneca, has been the subject of changing medical advice due to its links with a rare clotting condition, and confusing advice from the Prime Minister.

The problem is that Mr Morrison put all of his eggs in the AstraZeneca basket, ignoring advice to adopt the world’s best practice of sealing deals for four to six vaccines.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Mr Morrison has been complacent.

At a time when leadership was required, the Federal Government has concentrated on spin rather than clear advice.

We have had day after day of photo ops and promises which have not been met.

The Australian people have been magnificent during the past 18 months, working together to suppress the COVID outbreak and prevent the soaring death tolls seen overseas.

Our frontline health workers —– doctors, nurses, cleaners and drivers — have emerged as national heroes.

But now, with our economy depending upon a return to normal conditions, Scott Morrison has let his people down.

A Labor government would fix this mess with a four-point plan.

Build dedicated quarantine facilities.

Fix the vaccination rollout.

Start a mass advertising campaign.

Manufacture mRNA vaccines locally.

This opinion piece was first published in the West Australian on Tuesday, 13 July 2021.